The southern city of Kaohsiung has started vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19. Since Wednesday, pregnant women living in the city can go to one of 20 designated medical facilities to get their first vaccine dose. However, there has been a slight hiccup: the announcement by city health authorities seems to have caught a number of the designated vaccination sites unprepared.
On Wednesday morning, somewhere between 20 and 30 pregnant women arrived at Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital. They were the first pregnant women in the city to get vaccinated for COVID-19 after city health authorities decided to include pregnant women in the priority list for vaccination.
These women were lucky in more ways than one. Firstly, they got to pick which vaccine they wanted to get: many chose the Moderna due to their doctors’ recommendations. Secondly, and more importantly, they got to be vaccinated in the first place.
It seems a number of the 20 designated vaccination sites in the city were caught off guard by the announcement that pregnant women can now get COVID vaccines. They had only heard the news on Tuesday, which left them without enough time to prepare, and many women who went to these places were unable to get vaccinated.
Despite the hiccup, vaccinations of Kaohsiung’s pregnant women are now underway, and those who have received their shot say they are unafraid of potential side effects. As one of them said Wednesday, you have to be vaccinated in order to be protected.